The Environmental Protection Agency has released the first draft (PDF) of the Energy Star power efficiency specifications for computer servers, EDN reports. The plan is for the EPA to first create a Tier 1 of relatively easily attainable power efficiencies, and then steadily raise the bar as customers and end- users of the equipment demand an Energy Star rating and make it a de facto standard. The draft is at a very preliminary stage.

It was just over one year ago that the EPA announced its efforts to develop new energy efficient specifications for data center equipment.

An EPA report released last summer found that data centers in the U.S. have the potential to save up to $4 billion in annual electricity costs through more energy efficient equipment and operations, and the broad implementation of best management practices. Congress requested that EPA develop the report to examine market trends in the growth and energy use of servers and data centers.

U.S. data centers and their associated infrastructure consumed five million kW of energy in 2005, the equivalent of five 1,000 MW power plants, according to a February 2007 report from AMD. The Alliance to Save Energy has also released a report on data center energy consumption.